Tired of breaking your promise to go easy on the drinks tonight? You know your nightly habit isn’t great for your health or waistline, but it’s so hard to say no. Sound familiar? Then you need Rachel. She knows what it’s like to be fed up with your drinking, worried about judgment from others, and turned off by approaches that focus on a higher power instead of brain science. Learn the exact steps she used to change her relationship with alcohol. Discover how the brain works, the real reason ...
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Smartrecovery Podcasts
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438: When It Feels Easier to Pour the Drink
27:11
27:11
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27:11
When you're standing in your kitchen with a craving, there's a moment where pouring the drink feels like the path of least resistance. The familiar routine beckons - no thinking required, no uncomfortable feelings to navigate, just the well-worn neural pathway that promises immediate relief. But what if that sense of ease is actually an illusion? T…
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437: Finally Something for Me: Invisible Labor and Drinking Less
9:25
9:25
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9:25
Ever noticed how that evening glass of wine feels less like a drink and more like a reward? Do you pour that drink and think, “Finally, something for me?” A reward for all the invisible work you do every day. The mental load, the scheduling, the endless to-do lists that nobody else sees. Listen in this week to discover the connection between invisi…
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436: The Hidden Script Keeping You Stuck with Alcohol
19:26
19:26
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19:26
Society has taught us a script about alcohol that keeps millions of people stuck. The story says you're either a normal drinker who can take it or leave it, or you're powerless and must quit forever. This black-and-white narrative has been reinforced by treatment models and cultural messaging for nearly a century, leaving no room for the possibilit…
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435: Why “One More” Never Feels Like Enough
15:33
15:33
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15:33
Have you ever wondered why "one more drink" never quite delivers what you're hoping for? Most people assume that when you keep reaching for more alcohol, it's a willpower problem. But there's actually a psychological and physiological phenomenon at play here called diminishing returns. Tune in this week to hear exactly why "one more" never delivers…
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434: How to Let Go of Regret About Drinking
31:30
31:30
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31:30
Have you ever found yourself lying awake at night, replaying all the "stupid" things you did while drinking? That mental highlight reel of moments you wish you could take back, the choices that make you cringe, the decisions that still make you shake your head in disbelief? Regret about your drinking weighs you down like a heavy backpack filled wit…
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Have you ever tried to chase that perfect feeling? You know the one - where everything feels just right. Maybe it's after that first glass of wine, during a celebration, or in those moments when you're feeling completely confident and in control. And then... it starts to fade. Tune in this week to learn why the buzz fades and how accepting that it'…
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432: I Know It’s Not Good for Me but I Love the Taste
11:01
11:01
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11:01
The shame spiral around drinking often starts with something that seems completely logical. You know alcohol isn't serving you, yet you still genuinely enjoy it. This creates a mental tug-of-war where you're constantly battling against your own desires, telling yourself you shouldn't want what you clearly do want. Most people spend years stuck in t…
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431: Why Time Away From Alcohol Can Backfire
22:38
22:38
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22:38
The floodgates metaphor captures exactly how it feels when you reintroduce alcohol after a break - like you've lost all control and are being swept downstream. You watch your progress unravel, find yourself right back in old patterns, and wonder why you keep making the same mistakes. This experience leaves many people trapped in an exhausting on-ag…
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You've made the list. You have all the reasons why drinking less is a smart choice. You know all the benefits and you really do want to change. So why isn't that enough in the moment? Why does your motivation disappear the second a craving shows up or as soon as you've finished your first drink? Many people spend years believing that their long lis…
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429: The Hidden Difference Between Having Fun and Chasing It
24:47
24:47
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24:47
What’s the difference between having fun and chasing it? As kids, most people have a good 15 years of life when they knew how to have fun without a drink in their hand. Back then, your brain had no idea that the perception of fun could be outsourced to something external. You just went out and created your own enjoyment. When you get in the habit o…
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428: Change Feels Hard Because You’re Meant to Grow
33:34
33:34
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33:34
When contemplating taking a break from drinking or cutting back, most people focus on how hard it will be. They anticipate struggle, discomfort, and missing out on fun. Our brains are actually designed to avoid hard things. We’re wired to seek pleasure, avoid pain, and expend the least amount of energy possible. This motivational triad helped human…
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427: The Skill of Staying Present Through Discomfort
26:01
26:01
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26:01
Ever felt like you just need a drink to handle discomfort? In this episode, you’ll hear how a terrifying bus ride through Alaska’s Denali National Park helped me realize that discomfort isn’t the enemy – it’s the chaos we create around it that trips us up. Through a narrow, winding road perched over sheer cliffs, fear consumed me. I reacted, resist…
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426: Would You Still Drink If It Wasn’t Fancy?
26:28
26:28
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26:28
The hidden influence of "drinking the good stuff" is shaping your relationship with alcohol in surprising ways. As you upgrade your drink choices to fancy wines, craft beers, or top-shelf spirits, you might notice thought patterns around waste and value that are driving overconsumption. Our beliefs about what constitutes "good" alcohol trace back t…
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When you’re out with friends and everyone orders drinks, you might have thoughts like, “Well, you only live once. I want to enjoy it!” Despite wanting to drink less (or not at all), you order yourself a drink too. You might think that having more discipline in moments like these would help you resist, but I'm here to tell you that discipline, willp…
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424: When Drinking Less Feels Like a Fluke
26:50
26:50
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26:50
When someone successfully moderates their drinking or says no to alcohol in situations where they previously would have reached for a drink, they tend to view it as a fluke and go back to worrying about when they'll slip up again. But was it a fluke? As humans, we often attribute our wins to external factors - the circumstances, other people, or pu…
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Have you ever woken up after drinking too much and immediately thought either, “I f*cked up” or “I must be f*cked up?” These two seemingly similar thoughts actually reveal deep-rooted societal beliefs about drinking problems that might be keeping you stuck. It doesn't matter your age, gender, education level, or socioeconomic status – these thought…
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Have you ever set a firm intention not to drink, only to find your good intentions fall apart later in the day? It's a frustrating cycle that can leave you wondering what's wrong with you. But here's the truth: your good intentions aren't failing because of some personal flaw. They're failing because they're missing a crucial element. On last week’…
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Do you start each morning with the best of intentions for your drinking only to watch them crumble by evening? That frustrating cycle isn't a sign of personal failure—it's evidence that you're missing a crucial element in your approach to change. The truth is, those morning intentions aren't the problem. They're genuine and meaningful, but when you…
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Do you set strict rules about when and how much you can drink, only to break them and feel worse than before? When most people try to change their drinking habits, they immediately look for external parameters—only drinking on weekends, limiting to two drinks, or never drinking before 6PM. But these arbitrary rules completely bypass the most import…
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419: What Envy Reveals About Your Drinking
22:08
22:08
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22:08
Have you ever found yourself envious of people who seem to drink with ease? If you’re changing your relationship with alcohol, envy toward “normal drinkers” might feel familiar—but it also holds surprising insight into how your habit formed, and how you can begin to change it. In this episode, you’ll learn how understanding envy helps you uncover l…
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Have you ever felt so overwhelmed by your emotions that you'd do anything to forget what's bothering you? In those moments, reaching for a drink—and then another, and another—can feel like the only way to escape. But this pattern of using alcohol to numb difficult emotions creates a problematic cycle that actually decreases your emotional resilienc…
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Have you ever set rules for yourself around drinking, only to find that they don't work? You have the best of intentions, but somehow you always end up right back where you started. What's going on here? As it turns out, there's a very good reason why your drinking rules aren't effective - and it has nothing to do with a lack of willpower or discip…
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If you're constantly rushing through your days, checking off endless to-do lists, and using alcohol as a reward, you might be living in a "pleasure desert.” When you're constantly focused on getting things done and denying yourself small pleasures, it's no wonder you feel the need to fill your evenings with alcohol. But what if there was another wa…
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415: Why You Go Back to Drinking After Long Breaks
30:13
30:13
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Have you ever taken a long break from drinking, only to find yourself eventually going back to it? So many people find themselves stuck in this frustrating cycle of stopping and starting again, wondering why they can't seem to make the change stick. Listen in to hear one of our Take a Break coaches, Adriana Cloud, explore this common struggle. We d…
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How often do you declare to yourself, “I’m just someone who…” fill in the blank? Can’t moderate your drinking? Has an addictive personality? Is broken and has no willpower? It's easy to turn your frustrations with drinking into sweeping declarations about who you are. But what if these thoughts aren’t as true as they feel, and there was an alternat…
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